“New York’s a Lonely Town” (The Trade Winds)

If you remember today’s classic song of the day at all, and you might not, you might think it was a song by the Beach Boys. That’s because it sounds remarkably like the Beach Boys singing a Brian Wilson song, even though it isn’t.

The song is “New York’s a Lonely Town” and it’s by a studio group called the Trade Winds. That so-called group was just a vehicle for two established musicians, Peter Anders and Vini Poncia, who’d had previous success with a doo-wop group called the Videls, and with writing songs for Phil Spector, including “(The Best Part of) Breakin’ Up” for the Ronettes.

Anders and Poncia wrote “New York’s a Lonely Town” as a kind pastiche of the surf sound that had been popularized by the Beach Boys earlier in the 1960s. Unlike Brian Wilson’s California-bred sun-drenched tunes, “New York’s a Lonely Town” is about a West Coast surfer boy stuck in New York City in the dead of winter. As the lyrics relate:

My folks moved to New York from California
I should have listened when my buddy said “I warn ya
There’ll be no surfin’ there
And no one even cares”

My woody’s outside, covered with snow
Nowhere to go now
New York’s a lonely town
When you’re the only surfer boy around

What makes “New York’s a Lonely Town” sound particularly like a Brian Wilson tune is its unusual chords and sophisticated harmonies. I especially like the little surprise on the “surfer boy” bit when the tune shifts from iim7 – G7 (Dm7 – G7) to a bIIIM7 (EbMaj7). It just sounds really cool, and like something Brian Wilson might do.

Unfortunately, “New York’s a Lonely Town” caught the waning end of the surf music craze when it was released in 1965. That helps explain why it only reached #39 on the Billboard Hot 100. That’s a shame, because it’s a much better song than that.

Peter Anders and Vini Poncia worked together for several years before going their separate ways. Vini hooked up with Ringo Starr for several of his early solo albums while also writing songs for the likes of Jackie DeShannon, Martha Reeves, and Tommy James. In addition, Vini produced a few albums for Peter Criss (solo) and Kiss. He’s still around today, age 83. Peter Anders worked for awhile at Motown but continuing drug problems eventually drove him out of the music business. He passed away in 2016, age 75.